Days After Helmut Marko Makes Resounding Declaration, Liam Lawson Reveals Conversation to Replace Daniel Ricciardo Temporarily

Liam Lawson the reserve VCARB star is waiting for his chance to get back in an F1 car. Speculations of his comeback to the sport are being made by many, believing he will replace Daniel Ricciardo in the coming races. Last year, Lawson was substituted after Ricciardo’s Dutch GP crash that left him with a broken arm, and the reserve driver took over the seat for the coming few races till Ricciardo healed.

While there are rumors about Ricciardo being replaced if he does not perform this season, there is still no word from the team. However, in a recent interview with The Red Flags Podcast, Liam Lawson breaks down how he got the seat in 2023. So, how did he do it?

How did Liam Lawson get his seat in 2023?

After a long and flattering intro to the reserve driver, the host jumped into asking him about his return to an F1 car. While there was no major update there, the conversation moved towards how he landed his seat in 2023, and he gave a candid explanation of how it happened.

When Daniel Ricciardo crashed his car, Lawson knew it was go time. Although he was not completely confident in himself, he told himself to fake it till he made it and that’s what he did. The VCARB reserve driver said, “I found Helmut and he was talking to Franz and Helmut just looked at me. I like walked up and in their conversation like and he just looked at me, he’s like you ready? I was like yeah.”

When the host paused him to ask, “And how much of that did you, like how much of that [fake confidence] were you putting on?” That is when Lawson revealed that he was not even close to being sure about it. With a laugh, he confessed, “Like 99 percent yes, honestly like I felt ready for f1, yeah, but mid-season even if it was a track that I knew like jumping in mid-season and yeah, it’s like these guys have been doing it all year, yeah, it was p3s at Zandvoort. Like am I done no I just raced the week before and in Japan. I wasn’t really feeling ready at all.”

Ultimately, Lawson knew that this was his ‘one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything he’s ever wanted, his one moment’ so he captured it and didn’t let it slip. However, what does this mean for Liam Lawson in this season?

Helmut Marko’s take on replacing Daniel Ricciardo at the Imola GP

When it comes to the matters of Red Bull, who better to get insights from than Helmut Marko? Probably no one as he is the man that looks after the junior driver programs. It was Marko who put Lawson in the seat last year.

Following the Miami Grand Prix, the Red Bull director cleared out the talk around the paddocks by saying, “The rumors that Ricciardo will be replaced by Liam Lawson at Imola are nonsense. Liam’s manager from New Zealand was there, apparently, he has certain dreams and these are being announced through some media, including from New Zealand.”

Breaking the hearts of Lawson fans, Marko said, “There is absolutely nothing planned in Imola.” However, his next sentence gave hope to see the New Zealander on the grid season when he said, “But of course, we will look at this in the future.”

Let us know in the comments below if you think that Lawson will replace Ricciardo this year.